One week after the fatal Los Angeles Police Department shooting of a 25-year-old black man described by family as mentally challenged, the mood in his South Central L.A. neighborhood was both angry and somber.

In what was the third demonstration within a week, about 50 protesters began the march in this Florence neighborhood Monday evening chanting slogans such as “No Justice, No Peace” and calling for police to release the names of the two officers involved in the shooting of Ezell Ford.

“This happens all of the time. The police are using too much force. They should probably be using beanbags or something like they do with the prisoners because they are steadily killing people,” said Teneca Wilson, 30, who described Ford as a friend. “A change has to come because all it is is making everyone in the neighborhood afraid of them and other things start happening.”

Police, in a preliminary account, said Ford was shot after he attempted to grab a gun from an officer’s holster during a struggle on the ground with that officer. Veteran gang enforcement officers had stopped Ford, who was walking on 65th Street near Broadway about 8:10 p.m Aug. 11, during an “investigative stop” for unknown reasons. Both officers, who police have not identified, have been assigned home duty while a probe by the department’s Force Investigation Division continues, an LAPD spokesman has said.

Hoku Jeffrey, Los Angeles coordinator for BAMN (By Any Means Necessary), said his group organized the protest to demand that the officers who killed Ford, and those involved in an altercation with Omar Abrego, another man who died after an incident with police, “be jailed” and that their names be released. The way Ford and Abrego died, he said, is “just unacceptable.“

“A badge is not a license to kill,” Jeffrey said.

Abrego died after what police have described as a “physical altercation” with him on Aug. 2 in the 6900 block of South Main Street. Abrego, who was initially stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence, died at a hospital the following morning, officials said. Police said an officer suffered a broken hand while struggling with Abrego, and another officer suffered a knee injury.

Meanwhile, neighbors and friends said Ford was someone who was both embraced and taken care of by his community. Ashanti Harrison, 31, said he knew Ford all his life and described him as having “the mental capacity of an 8-year-old.” Harrison said Ford would flinch and get “a little nervous” when anyone reached out to him to shake his hand, but he would still shake it.

“He would just walk around and bum cigarettes and smoke weed all day,” Harrison said. “He didn’t bother anybody. You might find him in your yard, sitting on your porch. He (might not) even know you but he’d be sitting on your porch or he’ll be on your lawn or something but he really doesn’t bother anybody.”

Harrison, who said he witnessed the incident, said he was in the shower of his 65th Street upstairs apartment when he heard officers yelling something like “get down on the ground.” When he looked out the window, he said he saw police tackle Ford to the ground, then heard one shot go off, then a couple seconds later, another and then a third.

Ford was lying on the ground “but he was struggling like he didn’t want anyone on top of him, didn’t want anyone holding him down,” Harrison said.

While Ford was part of a neighborhood known to have gangs, he “was not a gangbanger, not one of these guys writing on the wall and shooting people,” Harrison said.

Ford was convicted in January for trespassing in a home and in 2008 for carrying a loaded firearm. He was also convicted that same year for possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana for transportation and sale, according to Los Angeles Superior Court documents.

Delois Bulliner, 67, a longtime resident who lives in a home across the street from where he was killed, saw Ford walking every day in the neighborhood, begging for a cigarette, she said.

“He had a mind of a 10-year-old,” she said. “How do you think a child reacts at that age? It shouldn’t have happened. … It’s terrible. It was a senseless shooting.”

Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday he will make sure there is a “full and fair investigation” of this incident.

“I understand the passions stirred within the community and fully respect the right of the people to assemble and be heard. I ask all Angelenos to respect each other during this time through the practice of peace,” he said.

Councilman Curren Price, who met with the Ford family, said he has been in constant communication with the LAPD since the shooting.

“I am calling for a thorough investigation of this incident and others that have emerged in recent days,” Price said. “We must act with urgency and transparency so that we can bring answers to the affected families and our residents, as well as peace to our community.”

Councilman Bernard Parks, a former chief of the LAPD, urged patience in the community.

“The LAPD investigation is well on its way and should be allowed to be thoroughly completed before judgments are made or conclusions are reached,” Parks said. “Lawful demonstrations should be allowed and supported from the community and other interested parties.”

Councilman Price will be joined by members of LAPD and the City’s Human Relations Commission at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a community meeting at Paradise Baptist Church, 5100 S. Broadway, to discuss the Ford shooting investigation and next steps.

The meeting, which will be mediated by Human Relations staff, will include brief presentations from city and LAPD officials and a comment period for community members.

Brenda Gazzar is a multilingual multimedia reporter who has worked for a variety of news outlets in California and in the Middle East since 2000. She has covered a range of issues, including breaking news, immigration, law and order, race, religion and gender issues, politics, human interest stories and education. Besides the Los Angeles Daily News and its sister papers, her work has been published by Reuters, the Denver Post, Ms. Magazine, the Jerusalem Post, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, The Cairo Times and others. Brenda speaks Spanish, Hebrew and intermediate Arabic and is the recipient of national, state and regional awards, including a National Headliners Award and one from the Associated Press News Executives' Council. She holds a dual master's degree in Communications/Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

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